SHADOW OVER ALCATRAZ was published in the December 1, 1938 issue of TheShadow Magazine. A crime emperor of the future is buried with hisvicious exploits of the past - by The Shadow!

This is one amazing Shadow mystery. I loved it! Admittedly, this is notyour typical Shadow adventure. Most Shadow stories were somewhatsmall-scale. They involved a murder or two... a master criminal or two.By contrast, this story is on a much larger scale. Here we are talkingabout hoards of criminals and hundreds of deaths. And their ultimategoal is to create a criminal empire that will span the globe... indeedrule the planet! And fighting them is The Shadow. He gets to use hisdisguises. He makes some fantastic escapes. His aim with those deadly.45 automatics never falters. His phenomenal mind can extrapolate fulldetails from a mere scrap of information. You won't be sorry that youread this one, in which The Shadow battles the denizens of Alcatraz.

Yes, Alcatraz - The Rock! This is the repository of America's mostdangerous criminals, a concentrated population of the world's mostsinister masterminds. Where better to find lieutenants for the mostdevious mastermind of all time! Alcatraz, where America's most hiddenmaster criminal will recruit his evil henchmen for a plot to create aworld-wide crime spree.

It all starts in Denver, Colorado, where eccentric old inventor HarveyLanyon is demonstrating his latest invention. He calls himself "TheRainmaker" because he's created a machine that will end droughts. Or sohe wishes. But the invention is a failure; all it does is create a fog.And what good is fog? None, except to that hidden mastermind known asZanigew. Zanigew has sinister plans for the fog machine. So he sets outto capture Harvey Lanyon and appropriate Lanyon's invention.

Standing in his way is The Shadow. The Shadow, in his undisguisedcivilian form, is none other than famed aviator Kent Allard. Allard isat the unsuccessful demonstration of Lanyon's rain machine. He followsLanyon back to his hotel, where an attempt is made to kidnap the oldinventor. Kent Allard is overcome by a mysterious gas, and both HarveyLanyon and his invention are carried off by sinister henchmen in theemploy of the mysterious Zanigew.

But the evil Zanigew isn't about to stop there. He has struck before,and he'll strike again. Already he has captured James Dansell, a chemistand inventor. It's from Dansell that he acquired the gas which he usedto capture Harvey Lanyon and incapacitate Kent Allard. And next, Zanigewis preparing to capture Glade Tretter, a white-haired old inventor wholives in an abandoned lighthouse on the California coast.

Why does Zanigew want Glade Tretter? It seems that Tretter has created afog-breaking device. This is one more piece of the puzzle. Zanigew has afog-creating device and now seeks a fog-dispersing one. He also has thestrange sleeping gas created by James Dansell. To what use will thesedevices be put? And who will be next?

Next is Professor Eugene Barreau. Barreau is an electrical wizard - anamazing genius who has created apparatus that can send powerfulelectrical currents through the air. It can create a protectiveelectrical field around an area which nothing can penetrate. A kind of"force field." It sounds like something that Zanigew could certainly usein his quest for criminal power.

So exactly who is Zanigew and what is he up to? The Shadow had heard thename of Zanigew spoken in hushed tones when certain crooks thought theywere alone. Zanigew lurks in the background, directing crime from a safedistance. But now he has acquired the tools he requires, and is about tostrike. He has the fog machines, the poison gas, and the protectiveelectrical shield. With them, he plans on attacking Alcatraz and freeingthe worst criminal masterminds in captivity.

Can even The Shadow stop this cunning genius of crime? It doesn't seemso, as he hunts for the elusive crime master. With the help of thegovernment, The Shadow tries to track the strange wireless signals usedby Zanigew to send orders to his minions. But direction finders leadinvestigators to barren spots. It seems that Zanigew has a variety ofheadquarters around the country. From Denver to San Francisco to Idahoto Puget Sound in Washington, The Shadow tracks the elusive Zanigew inan effort to thwart his evil plans and stop and empire of evil thatcould stretch throughout the world.

Assisting The Shadow in this story are Harry Vincent and F.B.I. agentVic Marquette. Also appearing in smaller roles are Burbank and pilotMiles Crofton. The Shadow appears only as himself, Kent Allard... and afew disguises.

The Shadow appears as an unnamed adventurous Easterner who bears littleresemblance to Kent Allard. We are told that when he removes theputty-like makeup on his face, "out from the built-up guise came thegaunt countenance of Kent Allard." No mention of the "horror face"beneath the makeup that was mentioned in early Shadow novels. Perhapsthere was a little judicious plastic surgery performed in theintervening years? That might explain the absence of any mention of the"horror face" after the first couple years.

It's good to see The Shadow's autogiro make an appearance in this story.It plays a pivotal part in the climax to the story. This is the "new,improved" autogiro that is completely wingless, capable of making aspeed of one hundred and twenty miles an hour. Generally, autogiros wereconsidered to have wings, so this must have been closer to the modernhelicopter in design.

Some of the scenes in this story are a bit more lurid than usual. Not aslurid as those written by Theodore Tinsley, when he penned histwenty-seven Shadow novels. But a bit stronger than Walter Gibsonusually wrote. He describes a criminal henchman caught on fire; the odorof seared flesh as the human torch whizzes past The Shadow. Finally, TheShadow stands above the thing that had once been alive, looking at thelimbless remains. -gulp-

Walter Gibson also describes a torture device put into use by the evilZanigew. It's a modern version of the old "Spanish Maiden." It's a glassbox designed to the human shape. But instead of spikes, it containsneedles set deep in steel studs that cover the inside of the glasscoffin. Electrical current slowly pushes those needles inward, at analmost imperceptible rate. In two hours, the needles will penetrate thevictim. The torture is described by Zanigew as "exquisite." Not only canthe screams be heard through the airholes in the box, but the victim canbe seen writhing in agony through the glass walls. Yes, this is truly pulp!

There is one scene in this story that reminds me of the 1980 JohnCarpenter movie, "The Fog." Glade Tretter lives in a lighthouse, a giantfinger shafting eighty feet upward from the low rocks of Point Sonola.His daughter cries out, "Look, dad! That fog is coming from the landagainst a sea breeze!" Despite the wind, the thick mass crawls towardthe lighthouse until it is surrounded. The girl sees shapes that appearsuddenly from the fog. They are things like men, but grotesque creaturesthat might have been created by the fog itself... If you've seen "TheFog," you'll recognize this scene with a shudder!

I found one passage of interest. "Crofton always identified The Shadowas a globe-trotting, big-game-hunting millionaire named Lamont Cranston;never as Kent Allard. Preserving the secret of his actual identity wasimportant to The Shadow, even with his most trusted agents." In lateryears, the importance of preserving that secret was tossed aside in"Crime Over Casco." At the end of that 1946 story The Shadow admits tobeing Kent Allard in front of his agents... and two innocents who hadgotten caught up in the adventure... and in front of the master villain!And then the master villain escapes, knowing The Shadow's identity! Wow,that's quite a change of policy. Apparently preserving the secret of hisactual identity was no longer important in 1946. Can I pretend that the1946 novel never existed? I would feel so much better...

In this story, does Zanigew die in the end? Well that's not certain. Weare told that he hits his head and lies still, his eyes closed. And thesteamer ship sinks, apparently carrying his body with it. But authorWalter Gibson left plenty of loopholes so that he could bring backZanigew in some future tale, as he occasionally did with other mastervillains like Shiwan Khan and Doctor Rodil Mocquino. But in thisparticular case, Zanigew never returned. If indeed Gibson had plannedit, such a story was never published. And the evil Zanigew was nevermentioned in any other Shadow mystery. Too bad. He made a suitablypowerful adversary for the master of the night.

And one final note. Did you know that The Shadow can squeeze throughsteel bars only seven inches apart? It's not easy, but he accomplishesit in this story. Maybe he can dislocate some joints, somewhat likeescape-artist Harry Houdini was reputed to do. Get out a ruler and lookat seven inches. That's not much space. I'm surprised he could get hishead through! Unless... (no, let's not go there.)

This is one of the classic Shadow stories... and one of the top rated.And it will make an adventure that ranks among the very best among the325 Shadow magazine stories published. It's one you won't want to miss.

John

--"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"The wonderful old pulp mystery stories are all reviewed at:

As always, an excellent review which I thoroughtly enjoyed! On oneminor technical note, however, I don't know that I've ever heard of areal autogyro that had wings -- they were (and are) strictly rotorcraft,with an unpowered rotor. The batgyro had vestigal wings, but I'm havinga hard time thinking of a non-fictional example.

Post by Joe PfeifferAs always, an excellent review which I thoroughtly enjoyed! On oneminor technical note, however, I don't know that I've ever heard of areal autogyro that had wings -- they were (and are) strictly rotorcraft,with an unpowered rotor. The batgyro had vestigal wings, but I'm havinga hard time thinking of a non-fictional example.

Hi Joe

I've never seen an autogyro (or autogiro) in real life, but I rememberthe first time I saw one on film was in the 1933 W.C. Fields movie"International House" (which I saw on TV in the early 1960s). I thoughtthey were pretty cool. That one had wings. Look at this picture:

Wikipedia has a long article on autogyros (which I found kinda boring)and lots of pictures, and most of them do NOT have wing, as you pointedout. I guess the wings were just one of those early things... whichjust happened to coincide with when the Shadow stories were being written.

Someday I'd love to see an autogyro in real life... no matter whether ithas wings or not!

John

--"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"The wonderful old pulp mystery stories are all reviewed at: